Embrace the Surprises!

This is a pepper plant. 

I would ordinarily not reflect too deeply upon such a seemingly insignificant thing as a pepper plant, let alone write a blog post about it. But this plant has surprised me and it's given me pause to consider how God continually surprises us.

To look at it, you wouldn't know that this plant was a "runt". Several plants didn't sprout when I first attempted to grow them and then, by the time the seed was restarted and they began their climb out of the depths of the soil, I was in full blown planting season on my patio garden and with my two friends whom I have helped. There was not an extra pot or plot to be found. So a few of my tiny pepper plants that didn't make it my friend's house just sat in seedling pots, waiting for a home.

No one claimed them. So they waited. They stayed small and frail, unable to take extended doses of hot, brilliant sunlight and they needed just a little extra babying. 

My early pepper plants held great promise as they grew and grew. Before long, buds and then blooms formed. Within a matter of weeks it seemed the fruit was growing well. 

My "runts" finally made their way into vacant pots or emptied potato bags (cloth grocery sacks) by late June. The bags were a last ditch effort. They'd seen better days and the potatoes had been pretty rough on them. The seams and stitches were starting to give. I didn't hold out much hope for the pepper to survive, let alone thrive. With an attitude of "what can it hurt?" they began their journey in the footsteps of a plant that had used up all the nutrients and messed up their surroundings. I attempted to nurture them with nutrients, water, and even occasional conversation or song.

And then something happened.

It seems that as soon as the calendar dictated that it was now officially Summer, the waterworks began. It has been one of the wettest summers that I can recall in the last five or six years. There's not a lot of space on my patio so airflow is at a premium and soggy pots from too much of a good thing help no one. My early peppers that had held so much promise were staying thin-branched and turning a sickly pale green. Their fruit was small and not turning the vivid yellow I had hoped to harvest.  

But the "runt" began to grow.

Something was happening inside that roomy, cloth bag with it's splitting side seams. Whether the roots found their calling or the ample drainage provided the "oomph", that baby began to grow.

She's as high as my waist now, with the thickest stalk on a California Wonder bell pepper plant I have ever seen. She also has about 8 beautiful fruits of varying sizes soaking up the sunshine and fulfilling their destinies. And when they're gone, her work won't be over as the blooms-for-the-moment turn into their own unique fruit.

Am I any different from the "runt" who got into the game a little later than everyone else? To the casual observer, her exterior is pretty shabby, well-worn and doesn't look very promising...but her roots evidently run deep. Even her fruit is not her own as she is utterly dependent on a God who sends the sun and the rain. Sure, she's needs others to give her some nutrients from time to time, but even that does not come from them.

As I marvel at God's Creation, it always gives me pause at how He never wastes anything. The lessons I learn while pruning a plant, spreading the composted nutrients, watching a seed burst through the soil or smiling as a "runt" spreads her wings, always awes and amazes me. I am saddened by the thought of people missing these blessed moments as they become further and further removed from their food source, nature and the God who created it all for His good pleasure. He is such a giving God that what delights Him, He shares with us...and I pray I am always surprised by it.

**Not to be outdone by my feeble words...three sentences ago, He asked my first hummingbird to stop by my nasturtium and Wow me!**